Incinerator folly will cost taxpayer dear

I COMMEND your paper for highlighting the cost of the incinerator proposed jointly by North Yorkshire County Council and York City Council (Yorkshire Post, December 3).

The proposed method of financing the project by PFI will, as your article suggests, result in a foreign–owned company making excessive profits out of the ratepayers for the next 25 years.

This surely cannot be allowed to happen. The county council is committed to ensuring that this project goes ahead and is refusing to listen to any alternative solutions to waste disposal.

The technology is outdated, the site is too big, the increase in heavy lorries using our roads will increase significantly and it will result in the levels of recycling being reduced when many counties with better recycling rates than ours are looking to increase them further. At a time when everyone is seeking to reduce spending, how can the huge cost of this proposal be allowed to proceed unchallenged?

Electric rail drawbacks

From: Bruce Oliver, Chelsea Road, Southsea, Hampshire.

THE Chancellor’s Autumn Statement was most welcome, if initially misleading, in as much he made no mention of the section from Neville Hill in Leeds to Colton Junction, south of York.

It is a relief to learn these extra 18.5 miles are, in fact, included, permitting through electric services between Liverpool Lime Street and Newcastle. In Manchester, it is to be hoped the Ashton under Lyne route from Stalybridge to Victoria will also be included.

A question that arises concerns the future of TransPennine through services, presently offering Hull, Scarborough and Middlesbrough a direct link with Manchester and points west.

As these east coast termini are not mentioned in the scheme, it follows passengers will, no doubt, be required to change trains at Leeds, York and, perhaps, Darlington, if the youthful Class 185 TransPennine diesel units are to be superseded over electrified territory.

Leeds and York are very busy, well organised stations but they scarcely deserve the extra pedestrian traffic that will be generated by thousands of TransPennine passengers changing trains each day.

More to the point, passengers themselves will resent having to change trains at Leeds and York, present services offering convenience, if not, sadly, the greater capacity these popular services already demand.

‘Widdy’ right to be giddy

From: Mrs Maureen Hunt, Woolley, near Wakefield.

A RELATIVE said to me recently that she thought it was a great shame that Ann Widdecombe was once again behaving badly, showing a lack of decorum and dignity.

She is, of course, now playing in a pantomime in Dartford, Kent, together with her judge from Strictly Come Dancing, Craig Revel Horwood.

No doubt they make a sparky pair as their relationship was always abrasive.

I defended Ann Widdecombe stoutly.

We may have a long time ahead striving to maintain our dignity but how long do we have to let our hair down and have fun? “Widdy” has surely chosen the better path.

She is having an absolute ball, a whale of a time, and revelling in every minute of it. She is allowing herself to be a figure of fun and she is thoroughly enjoying the laughter.

She would agree, I am certain, with the words of Dr Seuss: “Say what you want and be who you are because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”

Thanks for RAF support

From: ACM Sir John Cheshire KBE, Chairman, Royal Air Force Charitable Trust.

MAY I, through your columns, thank all those who attended the recent Unsung Heroes’ concert performance by the Bands of the Royal Air Force at The ICC, Harrogate.

The evening was a great success and helped support the valuable work of the Royal Air Force Charitable Trust.

The Charitable Trust is the youngest of the three major RAF charities having been set up in 2005 to support a wide range of projects and initiatives that benefit RAF serving personnel and veterans; and young people, with an emphasis on the Air Cadets and youngsters from underprivileged backgrounds.

Since then, we have donated more than £1m in grants to the worthiest of causes.

Those who attended our concert were invited to record the names of their own personal RAF Unsung Heroes in a special Book of Remembrance and I am pleased to say that many took up that opportunity.

On behalf of all my fellow Trustees, I thank your readers for helping us to help others so much less fortunate than ourselves.

We very much hope to see them again at next year’s RAF in Concert on Friday, November 30, when we will be staging a Diamond Jubilee musical celebration in honour of Her Majesty The Queen.